Florida, which has the most extensive living coral reef system in North America, will require phone companies to lay Internet and telephone cables in designated gaps in the reefs and prohibit them from putting phone lines in certain areas.
Environmentalists proposed the rules due to concern that telephone cables laid on top of the reefs could sway back and forth in storms or when snagged by anchors, damaging the delicate coral, which can take up to a thousand years to grow.
"As far as we can tell, we're the first government to have a policy that directs underwater facilities to be sited through the gaps and going around the reefs," David Struhs secretary of Florida's Department of Environmental Protection told Reuters.
While the policy does not expressly forbid companies from putting cables over coral reefs, it does create a number of bureaucratic hurdles, including highly publicized meetings if companies forsake approved routes, Struhs said.
The rule prohibits laying cables in the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve and the coastal waters of Monroe County, which is home to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the only U.S. barrier reef.
An environmental group that studied the effect of cables on coral reefs had hoped cables would be banned from a larger areas, but it welcomed the rules and said they should be extended beyond Florida and beyond phone line regulation.
"What the governor has done is he's created a model by which other jurisdictions can now regulate," said Dan Meyer, general counsel at Florida's Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
"The question now needs to be put in front of the Federal Communications Commission," said Meyer, who plans to attempt to push the U.S. telecommunications regulator in this direction.
If the FCC makes a general ruling, then states near coral systems such as Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands would not need to make individual rulings, Meyer suggested.
Gerald Tourgee of the North American Submarine Cable Association, which includes companies such as AT&T Corp. T.N Global Crossing Ltd. GBLXQ.PK and MCI WCOEQ.PK , declined to comment on the ruling. He said Monday that members were very concerned about anything that could affect their options.
PEER's Meyer said the rules should be extended to govern submarine natural gas pipelines in the United States and could be a model for other countries with coral reefs such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Struhs told Reuters officials from New Zealand and Australia had already asked about Florida's rules.
The rules, which were approved without debate at a Florida cabinet meeting on Tuesday, will go into effect 21 days after they are filed with the Department of State. (additional reporting by Michael Peltier in Tallahassee)
By Sinead Carew, Reuters
